Touro Fraternal Association awards college grant, loans

CRANSTON – Touro Fraternal Association has announced the awarding of a total of $22,500 in student financial aid to six students who are pursuing higher education in the coming academic year.

After going through a rigorous selection process, conducted by Touro’s Student Financial Aid Committee, Alexander Strachman was awarded a $5,000 educational grant to defray the cost of a college education.

Five applicants will receive $3,500 each in interest-free loans from Touro’s Leo Greenberg Memorial Scholarship Fund. Repayment starts six months after the recipient graduates or is no longer a full-time student.

Strachman, the son of Jeffrey and Stephanie Strachman, is a freshman at Tulane University, in New Orleans, and is studying finance. He graduated in June from Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, in Massachusetts, where he achieved academic excellence. He was also the varsity captain of the cross-country team.

Strachman has devoted himself to community service since his Bar Mitzvah project, raising funds for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He participates in the Pan-Mass Challenge, which helps raise money for various charities. This year he will complete his seventh consecutive Pan-Mass bike ride, and he volunteers his time setting up the event.

Strachman also helps to collect and sort donations for his local food pantry, coaches younger children at several basketball clinics, and leads a group of middle and high school children as a facilitator for STOP (Students Together Opposing Prejudice).

Since the establishment of the student grant and loan program in 1981, Touro has made annual financial awards to ease the cost of higher education. Regular Touro members in good standing for at least two years, their children and the children of deceased Touro members who are enrolled full time in a tax-exempt accredited institution of higher learning are eligible to apply for the $5,000 grant or the interest-free loans.

For more information about Touro’s loan and grant programs, as well as the other benefits of membership, go to www.tourofraternal.org, email to info@tourofraternal.org, or call the office, 401-785-0066.

Submitted by Touro Fraternal Association